


Twilight Rendezvous

by ltgmars



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Fantasy, M/M, Polyamory, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-10-03
Packaged: 2017-11-29 12:13:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/686828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ltgmars/pseuds/ltgmars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nino finds out that he has a curious and kind of unnecessary power, and he goes on a quest to get rid of it. Jun will be there for him every step of the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twilight Rendezvous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bubbly (jeely)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeely/gifts).



> Written during [](http://kitto-slutparty.livejournal.com/profile)[**kitto_slutparty**](http://kitto-slutparty.livejournal.com/) 2012, originally posted [here](http://kitto-slutparty.livejournal.com/10659.html). Thanks to [](http://lysanderpuck.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://lysanderpuck.livejournal.com/)**lysanderpuck** for being a stand-up beta, as always.

There isn't a word for what they are, but the term generally used by those in the know is "Floater". Where it comes from and why it happens isn't fully understood. They simply pass through the population once every few generations, appearing every now and then like a foggy dawn, notable until it's forgotten. The truth is, even the Floaters don't know what they are until it happens, and it's only a part of them until it's gone again.

Nino finds out when he's sixteen, young but not stupid because he knows what he's doing.

"Jun-kun..." he gasps, burying his head in Jun's neck as Jun tightens his grip around their cocks together. Nino's been hard around Jun before, but never _against_ him, and he can say it's better than anything he's imagined before. He spreads his legs and pushes his shoulder forward until Jun's on his back under him, and Nino folds his arms against Jun's chest, grinding into Jun's fumbling hand.

They come like that, quickly and clumsily, feet pressing desperate creases into abandoned chemistry problem sets because they've wanted each other almost as long as they've studied together.

Nino knows what's coming next, even as he presses lazy open-mouthed kisses against Jun's throat and Jun runs a shaky hand up and down Nino's side, even as he listens to Jun bumble on about how it felt good and he's glad it was Nino and they should probably clean up before his parents get home and bring them their nightly snacks. Nino's responses grow quieter, kisses softer, and he's only vaguely aware of Jun indignantly asking if he's listening, because by then he's already asleep.

Nino wakes up in his desk at school, the chiming of the morning bell loud and almost taunting. He turns to the desk next to him to ask Jun if he'd fallen asleep, but Jun isn't there. Odd, that, because Jun hates being late, thinks it's inconsiderate and unfair to everyone who works to be on time. Odder still because they always walk to school together, but Nino can't remember making it to school that morning.

He glances around the room in hopes of seeing Jun somewhere, maybe chatting with that group of girls in the corner who always greet him before class starts, or maybe collecting assignments, their crinkled submissions on the top of the pile. He sees neither, no signs of Jun, but everything else as it should be -- the classroom door not quite closed, the dusty corner of the ceiling that never gets cleaned up. Nino's surprised by how much they bother him now, but maybe it's just because he usually has Jun there to distract him.

The last bell chimes and Jun barrels into the room, sliding the door open with a breathless _thwack_. "Sorry I'm late," Jun says quietly as he takes his seat, and Nino suddenly feels a lot of things he isn't used to feeling with Jun: anger, disappointment, hurt. "I'm really sorry, Kazu. I'm glad you made it on time." Nino turns away dismissively, as if against his will because he would never treat Jun that way, and gives his attention to their homeroom teacher, the broad-shouldered, octopus-headed Tanizaki. Tanizaki's octopus arms dance as he waits for the classroom stand-bow-sit, and it isn't until Nino's settled into his seat again that he realizes something's not right.

"This is weird," Nino mutters in his sister's voice, and he looks down to see eighteen-year-old breasts under his shirt, cupped in that lacy green thing he and Jun once found in Nino's laundry pile. "This is really fucking weird."

Next to him, Jun shushes him, and Nino can feel Jun's nervousness almost as keenly as he can feel his own disinterest. "It doesn't matter," Nino says loudly, and Jun cringes in the shadow of a thick book coming down on Nino's head.

Nino wakes up in Jun's arms on Jun's bed. Jun's cleaned them off and zipped them up, and his eyebrows are drawn in, darker and thicker than usual with what seems to be a bad dream. "Jun-kun," Nino says softly, smiling and brushing the hair out of Jun's face. Jun's arms around him tighten unconsciously. "Jun-kun, wake up. Your mom will be bringing us snacks soon."

Jun's face scrunches in, and he groggily opens his eyes, letting them settle on Nino. "Oh," he says casually, turning his head to the side and stretching his arms over their heads. "So it was a dream."

Nino smirks and pushes himself up, letting his fingers drag across Jun's shirt as he sits up. "Why are you so embarrassed, stupid?"

Weak denial colors Jun's cheeks. "I'm not embarrassed."

"You're just not used to waking up with me that close to you, right?"

Jun rolls his shoulders, willing Nino off him with a hand and curling forward into a sitting position. "I was having a bad dream, that's all. I was late to class and you were mad at me for it." Oh? This sounds familiar to Nino. "And Tanizaki-sensei turned into a squid or something?" An octopus, actually. "And then you turned into Kazue, and the entire time you hated me."

Nino considers saying something, but with the way he can hear Jun's mind fussing with unease, he realizes Jun doesn't need more to wonder about. He just needs Kazu. "There are a lot of things wrong with this picture if that's the dream you have after the first time we have sex," Nino says with a grin.

Jun laughs and shoves him into the wall. "You don't think I know that?"

By the time Jun's mom comes upstairs with their study snacks, Jun and Nino are sitting obediently in their usual seats around Jun's table. Jun's mom sets the tray down on Jun's desk, smiling affectionately. "I guess I get to call Kazuko and tell her I won our bet," she says, her voice light and triumphant. The temperature in the room spikes drastically with their embarrassment as she flits away. "She was saying eighteen at the earliest, but I always knew you boys were advanced for your age."

At that point, Nino's tucked his face into his knees, because it's one step closer to curling up and dying. He peeks up across the table at Jun, who's looking at him with flushed cheeks and shining eyes, and Nino takes comfort in the fact that at least he won't have to die alone.

*

Nino's always known that he falls asleep embarrassingly quickly after coming -- every adventure he's ever had with his hand has ended with an impromptu nap. And while he's glad that the first person to find out is someone who's loved him since before they knew what whacking off was, he still finds the teasing unfavorable, if familiar.

What's new to everyone is landing in Jun's dream every time. He finds that Jun's subconscious is a fascinating place to be. Sometimes he wakes up in a meadow at dusk, or on a crowded train. When Nino doesn't have an active role in the dream, he spends the time taking in the details, seeing the world as Jun sees it. They notice all the same things, Nino learns -- the distant call of the crows, the way the wind moves through the grass -- but they respond to them differently. Nino remembers too many details and ends up discarding what isn't useful to him so that he can understand the big picture on a deeper level. Jun, on the other hand, fixates, notices each component and builds his own big picture from it.

"It's amazing, isn't it? We see the world completely differently, but we still understand each other so well."

Jun glares at him over the rim of his coffee mug, grunting. "What the fuck are you talking about, Kazu?"

Nino smirks wryly. "Never mind. I should have known not to philosophize so early in the morning."

Jun takes a sip and nods an apology, swallowing. "More of the dream thing?"

Nino nods, leaning back in his chair and stretching his feet until his toes tickle against Jun's shins. Jun giggles and murmurs a venomless, "Stop it."

"Dream thing?" Nino's mom queries as she strides into the kitchen. "What dream thing?" Nino watches her scoop rice into bowls and snag furikake from a cabinet, placing the bowls on the table in front of them.

Jun responds automatically, and Nino knows it's only going to end badly. "Whenever we -- ah, thank you." Jun presses his hands together and bows his head before diving in for a mouthful of rice. "When... er..." and he pauses and takes a huge bite, half the bowl in his mouth at once because he's probably just realized that he has to find a delicate way to say--

"Get down and dirty, right?" Nino's mom offers pleasantly. Nino slinks down into his seat and resists the urge to smash his face into his bowl of rice.

Jun chews with his head forward and swallows, continues even though his face is glowing like a neon sign. "Whenever we... make... love..." -- Nino makes a note to mock him for that choice of words later, when he can hear himself over the sound of his own embarrassment -- "Kazu ends up having the same dream I do."

"Oh," Nino's mom says blandly. And then she lights up like a carnival. "Oh! Kazunari! You're a Floater!"

"A Floater?" Nino's mom had said it like something to be celebrated, but knowing her, she'd have said a dirty word in exactly the same way.

"Your great grandfather used to tell stories about it," she explains with a purposely mysterious air about her, and Nino's too interested to ask her why her grandfather was telling his grandchildren about his sexual encounters. "Apparently once every few generations, a member of the family gains the ability to dream other people's dreams."

Nino looks across the table and sees Jun at rapt attention despite the morning, eyes wide with wonder. Nino would kiss him if he weren't so far away and if his mother weren't so present. "So why exactly do they have the power?"

"No one's really sure. Legend has it" -- there's a legend, Nino's _legendary_... and probably more intrigued by what's happening than he needs to be -- "that there's one object that a Floater has to find that was left behind by the previous Floater. Some kind of pendant passed down from Floater to Floater. Only once the pendant has been found can the Floating stop, and the Floating ability will be dormant until it emerges again, generations later."

Nino can tell by the look on Jun's face that Jun's eating it up, and Nino probably has a similar look on his own face, if he has to be honest.

"It's like a scavenger hunt, then," Nino says, trying to contain the excitement in his voice. He looks down at his bowl and forces his grin down, concentrating on eating his breakfast. Floating in other people's dreams doesn't sound so bad if he has something to look for while he's there.

Nino's mom turns to them later as they're leaving for school, her face full of realization. "Oh, Kazunari, does that mean you fall asleep right after sex? What a terrible boyfriend. So sorry about that, Jun-kun, I hope it isn't too hard on you."

"Mom, please stop." Nino marches toward the genkan with his eyes on his feet, pinching at Jun's sleeve for support.

"It's fine, you know. Nothing to be embarrassed about." She continues even as the door swings shut. "Jun-kun's like another son to me!"

Nino spins and yells full-force into the closed door. "Doesn't that make things worse?!"

*

"I'm probably going to sleep with other people," Nino says on the way home from school one day, watching the way his shadow bobs forward on the pavement in front of him. Sometimes he hates that he's as realistic as he is, especially when it comes in direct contrast with Jun's idealism.

Jun slows down for a split second, and Nino probably wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't known each other since they were in diapers. "What does that have to do with me?"

Nino shrugs. "I'm just saying. We're both probably going to sleep with other people. Fall in love with other people, too."

Out of the corner of his eye, he watches as Jun's fingers fidget at the strap of his backpack, nervous energy while the rest of him keeps moving forward, step by step. "That doesn't mean our relationship has to change, does it? Sleeping with other people doesn't mean we aren't serious about us when we're together. We can love other people, but that doesn't mean we'll stop loving each other. I know you have a pendant to find, and I'll be there if you need someone to come home to."

Nino turns his head completely, then, to look at his best friend, so much generosity and acceptance under those gangly arms and crooked teeth. "You'll always be my favorite, Jun-kun. I hope you know that."

Jun looks at him and beams, and Nino's glad then that they've made it home because he can feel a furious blush on his face, which probably just means that they need to get out of the sun.

* * *

Nino finds his first "other person" their freshman year of college. He's joined the baseball team, because he has nothing better to do with his time (and also his mom told him that if he plans to live at home, he'd better find something else to do than play video games all day). It's there on the dusty, sweaty baseball diamond that he meets Aiba, who trips over himself when he isn't even moving, who smiles like he has sunshine stuck between his teeth and it burns his mouth if he doesn't let it out.

Aiba's easy enough to like as a person, because he's friendly and spontaneous and ultimately non-threatening, but it's easier still to want to fuck him, because when he's not talking, he's senselessly pretty. Not pretty in the way Jun's grown up to be pretty -- high cheek bones, broad shoulders on top of slim hips -- but secretly pretty, hidden away until it's noticed, when he's running with his arm stretched out for a pop fly, all long limbs and determination until the ball lands in his glove and he takes a tumble on the ground with a grin so big it fills up every part of Nino's heart.

Nino's not sure how to process it, because he's never wanted anyone besides Jun. Up until then, he's been more than satisfied with his childhood best friend sweetheart soulmate -- and it's too many sappy words that he hates to say, but it's true because he's been there since before Nino got self-conscious about that kind of thing.

"Is he into you, though?" Jun asks, not looking up from his reading. It's a thick biology textbook with a deep blue cover with the promise of science! inside, and it hurts Nino's head just looking at it.

"Please, Jun-kun," Nino scoffs, playfully overconfident. "Of _course_ he is."

Jun looks up then, meeting Nino's eyes with a cold, expressionless stare.

"Anyway, you have to help me!"

Jun grins, clearly amused. "I don't _have_ to do anything."

"Matsumoto Jun, if you love me, you'll help get in this guy's pants."

Jun sighs and puts his book down. "Why don't you just ask him out? It wasn't that hard with me, was it?"

Nino frowns, thinking back. "With you, we just waited until we were ready, and then we humped on your bed."

"Beautiful," Jun says dryly. "I hope that's how you tell our story to our kids someday."

"Don't be stupid," Nino says as Jun turns back to his reading. "I'll include all the sexy details."

Nino dodges the bread-shaped eraser that comes at his head and continues to contemplate his plan of attack.

*

It happens more easily than expected because as it turns out, Nino doesn't have to do anything. Aiba throws his arm over Nino's shoulder after practice one afternoon, his skin hot and tacky where it meets Nino's neck, and dips his head toward Nino's, whispering in low tones, "Are you free tonight?"

As a matter of fact, he is. Nino's body tingles with how free he is.

"You've been watching me," Aiba says later that night in his apartment, pushing a plate of reheated gyoza toward Nino. Nino _has_ been watching Aiba, is watching him now as he shuffles across the kitchen, swerving his hips this way and that when he doesn't want to run into things and he's misjudged the amount of steps he should have taken in the first place.

"That means you've been watching me, too, if you noticed," Nino says casually, maneuvering a dumpling into his mouth.

"Ah." A sheepish laugh spills from Aiba's lips. "I guess that's true." He sits next to Nino and gives him a lopsided grin, and Nino has to work hard to keep himself from kissing it away.

All they have for dinner is the gyoza and some barley tea, and they eat in silence, save for the clatter of chopsticks against cheap plates and the low buzz of anticipation in the air. Nino follows the line of Aiba's body as he takes their plates and walks into the kitchen, leaving them in the sink for later management. Nino imagines all the ways Aiba's muscles move, lean and firm under his clothes, under a sweaty jersey in the hot sun, under Nino's hands.

Aiba smiles coyly as he walks back toward the couch. "You're watching me again, aren't you?"

Nino stares at Aiba's collarbone, barely visible where his t-shirt dips in low, and manages to rasp out, "Don't ask stupid questions."

Aiba slides a hand along Nino's jaw and lifts his head up, just enough to meet his lips in a slow, even kiss. Nino lets his eyes drift shut and leans in, shifting his weight forward and angling his head. He lifts his arms up and winds them around Aiba's shoulders, running his fingers through the short hairs at the nape of Aiba's neck, grabbing a handful as Aiba sucks on his lower lip. Nino is breathing hard before he realizes it, feeling light-headed as he slips his tongue out for a taste, meeting Aiba's, and it's hot and wet and soft and _god_ it goes straight to Nino's dick. His arms squeeze Aiba closer as spreads his knees apart, sliding into Aiba's lap, and then he bucks his hips involuntarily, just hard enough to know that he isn't the only one enjoying himself.

Nino breaks the kiss to catch his breath, resting his forehead against Aiba's. "Aiba-kun, you have condoms, right?"

Aiba rolls his hips up into Nino's with a breathless grin. "Don't ask stupid questions."

Nino frowns and smacks him weakly on the head. "This isn't a drama! You don't get to say things like that!"

Aiba laughs. It starts in the back of his throat and moves its way forward, catching Nino's lips on the way out and making him grin despite himself. "Fine, sorry," Aiba says. "Up here, then? I can fuck you over the back of the couch."

Nino would find the instructions unsexy if it weren't for the way Aiba grabs Nino's hips and positions him while he explains, turning Nino around to face the back of the couch, knees on the cushions as he holds his body up with his elbows. "These are going to have to go, too," Aiba says calmly, unbearably hot in the way his merry tone of voice doesn't match the rough hands on Nino's waist, undoing the button and zip, sliding unapologetically into Nino's boxers. Nino's hard already, growing harder by the second as Aiba wraps a warm hand around him and pulses gently. Aiba's other hand works its way back around Nino's waistband, tugging his pants and boxers low enough in the back to bare his ass.

"It's a good thing I kept these in my pocket," Aiba says, accompanied by the sound of an unzipped fastener and rustling fabric. Nino feels the blunt head of Aiba's cock slip up along the cleft of Nino's ass, until it's laid flush between the cheeks, and Nino's chest is tight with how much he wants it.

"Just putting this here while I get you ready," Aiba says mildly, and Nino wants to strangle him for feeling the need to talk so much during sex, but he chokes on the thought as Aiba teases a slick finger around his hole before wordlessly sliding it in.

True to his word, Aiba fucks Nino over the back of the couch, slowly and quietly -- finally, quietly -- pumping Nino's cock at a steady pace until Nino feels his ass clench around Aiba and his hips tense up. He comes on the back of the couch in spurts, hazily conscious of the frenzied way Aiba slams into him from behind, again and again. As his mind dials down, he finds himself hoping that Aiba comes before Nino's completely asleep, because the reverse is probably rude.

*

Being with Jun for as long as he has has given Nino the opportunity to practice Floating, to not only be conscious in Jun's dreams but also to explore them, to dictate what his body does and make it interact with the dream world, even if Jun's subconscious says that Nino's doing something else. The problem with Jun is that he thinks too much, fusses about the kind of person he is and about how other people see him, and more often than not, Jun's subconscious puts him at odds even with the things in his life that are there to support him, Nino included. So it was frustrating at first whenever Nino showed up in Jun's dreams and acted in a way that he wouldn't, simply a product of Jun's overactive anxiety about living up to his own expectations. And then it was gratifying to finally gain control of his own body after months of practice, to reassure anxious dream-Jun that Nino would always love him despite how late he was or how many people he killed or whose books he accidentally took at the library.

And of course, Nino falls in love with Jun a little more after every dream, because even though he can control his own body, he still sees the world from Jun's point of view. He can see how vibrant the colors are from Jun's eyes, feel how much Jun cares about order -- aesthetic order for objects, emotional order for those around him. Even before Nino had been in Jun's dreams, he'd known that Jun was the warmest, kindest person in his life. The dreams only served to affirm that.

That night, Nino wakes up in a sunny field, standing in front of an old shed, and he realizes immediately that he's somewhere new. The edges of the building are hazy and undefined. It's like it doesn't matter what the precise measurements are, just that he's there in front of an old shed. Aiba's mind seems to believe that there's something interesting inside the shed, and as a result Nino gets a look into Aiba's character: he's curious by nature. "He probably wonders all kinds of stupid things," Nino mutters to himself, walking forward, through the front door.

It's lighter inside the shed than it is outside, almost as if the sun is dripping in through the roof to illuminate the objects within. There's nothing inside that Nino finds particularly interesting -- some Christmas tree ornaments, a lava lamp, an assortment of sports equipment, broken left sandals. It's about as random as Nino would have expected a shed in Aiba's subconscious to be, and either the perfect place or the least perfect place to look for the Floater pendant.

Nino's mom hadn't had any more details about the pendant, even after the initial mortifying conversation when she brought it up. She hadn't even been sure that it was a pendant, simply that it was something valuable-looking -- "You'll know it when you see it." Which was a statement as valuable as the objects in Aiba's shed, twinkling uselessly, begging to be investigated. Nothing of interest to Nino seems to exist there.

"I know you think you're intriguing," Nino says saucily to the objects around him, "but I'm not going to touch you." He can hear the disappointed groan of Aiba's entire subconscious as he exits the shed and walks into the field. It almost echoes his own disappointment, because he's realized how far he probably is from finding what he's looking for.

Nino opens his eyes to see Aiba's living room ceiling above him. He's laid out on Aiba's couch, a ratty old Chiba Lotte Marines blanket thrown over him. It's morning.

*

Jun's new boyfriend isn't quite what Nino expects. To be fair, Nino had no expectations aside from how Jun constantly talked about his hair, and his bangs, and the way his hair and bangs framed his face. And it's true: Ohno Satoshi does have a good face surrounded by good hair and bangs.

It isn't until Ohno speaks that Nino realizes what Jun finds so attractive about him: he's very calming to be around. He doesn't seem to pass any judgment -- complains about odd things or really specific pet peeves but ultimately accepts you for who you want to be. Nino can see the way Jun relaxes around him, completely open and at ease about himself, not afraid of being pushed away or rejected for anything he does or says. It's behavior Nino doesn't see when Jun's with other people; up until then, that side of Jun was Nino's, and his alone.

Nino thinks he's supposed to feel jealous about it, but he's almost surprised by how happy he is for Jun. That's what love is, probably. The kind of feeling that comes with every "despite" and "even if" imaginable, the one where the other person's happiness is what creates your own. It's the kind of feeling Nino wouldn't think himself capable of, if he hadn't met Jun, but then, it's Jun. The world would fall in love with Jun if they got to know him the way Nino did.

He has high hopes for Ohno and for how he and Jun can grow together. He also comes to like Ohno not just as Jun's childhood best friend sweetheart soulmate, but on a personal level as well, after some digging reveals a sharper mind than Ohno lets on and a penchant for idiocy that Nino can appreciate.

"Taka," Nino whines in a pinched voice as he frowns over his botched homework, red circles swarming the paper like hornets ready to sting him into failure. Economics is interesting and worthwhile in theory, but in practice it's complete gibberish to his brain. "Taka, what do you want to eat today? What's Jun-kun going to cook for us?"

"Hmm," Ohno responds in his own pinched voice, taking a break from his art history reading. He leans back into Jun's couch and stretches his arms over his head, turning to look toward the spot on the floor in front of him where Jun's hunched stubbornly over his work. "MatsuJun," he says in his normal voice, and Nino can see the way Jun perks up like an excited dog.

"Any requests?" Jun says, earnest.

Taka makes an excited face. "I want to eat Yuuji!"

"I can't cook him!"

*

True to the day and age, Nino doesn't get anywhere without connections, and his connection to better understanding his economics assignments comes through Ohno, in the form of his own childhood friend Sakurai Sho. Sho's an upperclassman, like Ohno, but somehow so much closer to what Nino thinks of when he thinks of upperclassmen: dependable, capable, and more or less with their shit together. Ohno doesn't seem to have any of those traits on his person, but maybe that's why he and Sho are friends. Maybe they're complementary in just the right ways. Maybe they're each other's childhood best friend, though Nino doubts they could be each other's childhood best friend sweetheart soulmate the way he and Jun are -- that relationship is special.

Nino likes Sho well enough, but he doesn't take to him right away the way he did with Jun and Aiba and Ohno. Sho's all traditional methods and 90-degree angles, and to some degree Nino can appreciate that -- he has Jun, after all. But Nino's never been the type to get along with the stereotypical Perfect Student, and he fears that might be who Sho is.

He does make for a great economics tutor, though, both bright and nice to look at, explaining the formulas and the logic in relatable terms, even if he goes over them more times than Nino needs to understand them. Once is enough, usually, and Nino spends the rest of the time listening to the sound of Sho's voice, watching him pout his lips and draw his eyebrows together, following the ideas as they dance along his throat.

During one of their sessions at Nino's house, Sho stops suddenly and turns to look at Nino up close, way too close. "Is there something wrong, Ninomiya-kun?" And Sho can't possibly be that dense, because even Aiba got it after a few weeks, and that was long-range staring during an activity where you're supposed to watch the other players move.

Nino shakes his head dismissively. "Though I could probably use a break."

Sho quirks his lips, still way too close, and Nino takes it all back. Sho _must_ know what that does to him. Even the boring Perfect Student can have sex appeal if he knows how to work his body parts. And really, knowing the boring Perfect Student, he'd probably studied it in a manual somewhere.

Sho leans back, still smirking, and Nino's grateful for the space. Nino scoots his chair back and heads into the kitchen. "Coffee?" he offers, waving a bag of the gloriously cheap stuff his mom gets at the grocery store.

"No thanks. I try not to drink it in the evening."

Of course. Nino shakes his head as he feeds coffee lazily into the machine. Two and a quarter-ish scoops should do.

"Ninomiya-kun, do you watch sports?"

Nino blinks, surprised. "Do _you?_ "

Sho lets out a laugh that sounds slightly indignant. Nino wishes he'd been at the table so he could see how it looked. "I hope you don't take me for one of those guys who only studies."

"I do, actually," Nino says plainly, pretending to be unmoved as he watches the coffee drip into the pot.

"You're awful," Sho whines to no one, and Nino feels signs of a smile. "I'll have you know I played soccer when I was younger."

"Yeah?" Nino pours his coffee into a worn mug and brings it back to the table, still feigning disinterest. "I kicked things around the house, too. It's nothing special."

"Really awful!" Sho says dramatically, throwing his arms up, and Nino can't help but grin then. "I played all through middle school. The best damn bench warmer they ever saw."

Nino lets go, finally, unrestrained laughter filling the room, and he can feel his opinion of Sho shift somewhere deep in his chest.

*

When Nino wakes up, he's lying in Jun's arms. Nino's still most comfortable there, still most at home running around in Jun's dreams. He looks up to see Jun still asleep, along an old shopping street this time, looking for ingredients for a dinner party. Nino had looked around for his own coveted item, and there'd been an old shop of trinkets that seemed promising, but nothing had stood out to him as particularly important, and he has a sense that when he finds whatever he's trying to find, he'll be able to feel it there.

"Maybe it's not in your subconscious," Nino whispers even as he realizes how ridiculous the words are to say. It's not like Jun can control his subconscious. Maybe someday down the road he'll see the pendant Nino needs to see, and Nino will find it in his dream and that'll be that. Or maybe it's in someone else's dream entirely, someone he hasn't met yet, someone he won't know matters until he does. Jun will be a part of it, though, Nino's sure. No matter how or when it happens.

"But I have to keep looking."

*

Nino's plan had been to have a real talk about it before they got too interested in one another, but before he can catch himself, he's lying on Sho's bed with Sho's tongue tracing supply and demand graphs on his neck, and it's probably weeks too late to talk.

He tries anyway, pressing a hand against Sho's arm to get his attention. "Sakurai-kun," he says breathlessly. "Sakurai-kun, we... I have something to say."

Sho rears back, eyes searching Nino's as he waits for more, and Nino hates that he's put that face on him, on a man who's usually boringly serious and seriously boring until he reveals a little more of himself, like his sharp sense of humor or his ability to make fun of himself.

"It's nothing, well... nothing serious," except that it is, because he can't imagine straight-laced Sho being open to it the way Aiba and Ohno are.

Sho settles on his heels completely, giving Nino a chance to sit up and scoot himself back into the headboard. "Go on," he says seriously.

"Well," Nino starts. He's completely calmed down at this point, and it's easier for him to find words when they aren't being sucked out of his throat before he can get to them. "The thing is that I already have someone in my life, who'll always be a part of my life. If I'm going to date someone seriously, I want to be open about it, and I want that person to understand and accept it."

"Ahh, Matsumoto, right?" Sho says easily, nodding his head. "Actually, Satoshi-kun already told me about him. And you. And you and him." Sho's eyes flutter upward as he makes sure he's gone through all of the possibilities. Seemingly satisfied, he returns his gaze to Nino and nods swiftly. "I understand. He's your best friend, right?"

"He's, well." Jun's his childhood best friend sweetheart soulmate. "He's my Jun-kun," he says with a shrug.

"I'm jealous," Sho says with a warm smile. "I wish I had a Jun-kun."

Nino pretends to consider, humming in thought as he reaches forward and drags his fingertips up Sho's arm, rejoicing in the goosebumps that rise along the skin. "You can have a Nino, if you want."

Nino's barely finished the sentence by the time Sho's on his lips, plush and a little chapped from his earlier stroll along Nino's neck. Nino opens his mouth and sucks Sho's bottom lip in, smoothing over the dry grooves with his tongue before switching to the top. Sho's teases at the hem of Nino shirt, and Nino gasps as Sho's fingers tickle his sides before drawing the fabric up his body. Nino breaks the kiss and lifts his arms up, letting the shirt go with it, and watches admiringly as Sho carelessly peels his own shirt off, revealing toned muscles that match those in his arms.

"You're nice to look at, aren't you?" Nino says with a shameless grin.

"Shut up," Sho replies quietly, gaze falling to a corner of the room. Slowly, he returns his gaze to Nino, biting his lip as he does, and Nino realizes he'll let Sho do anything he wants to him.

Sho fucks Nino on his back, his legs spread wide, one knee bent over Sho's shoulder as Sho wraps an arm around Nino's thigh and pulls him in closer. Sho rolls his hips into every thrust, and Nino almost shudders with the force of the sensation each time Sho's balls smack against his ass. Sho works at a heady pace, the bedroom filled with the obscene melody of sex -- grunting and slapping and panting and gasping, and a low moan as Nino desperately works his own cock, shallow bucking until Sho makes a strangled noise into Nino's leg. Nino gets three hard thrusts and feels Sho's tightening muscles as Sho spills himself into the condom, and it's just what Nino needs to find his own release.

*

When Nino wakes up, he's on Sho's bed, and Sho's staring at him curiously. Nino looks at him and then around the room, at the window blinds shooing away the morning sun. He doesn't find anything out of place, which is about as out of place as dreams can get. Unless... "We're... awake?"

"I think so," Sho says, frowning. "Did you dream?"

Nino narrows his eyes in confusion. It's a strange and specific question to ask, and one Nino's wondering about himself. "I didn't," he responds, mind sorting through the possible reasons why. Maybe Sho's a dreamless sleeper. "Why do you ask?"

Sho brings his hand up to his neck, massaging softly. He gives Nino a small grin before his gaze drops to the pillow under Nino's head. "So the thing is... and who knows if you'll believe me..."

Nino has a guess, then, because it's farfetched enough that it might just be the answer. "You're a Floater?" he asks cautiously, watching for Sho's reaction.

Sho blinks at him slowly, and Nino can see the exact moment realization dawns in his eyes. Sho huffs out a laugh. "Not anymore, I guess."

* * *

They have separate bedrooms in the new apartment, because even if they're childhood best friend sweetheart soulmates, they have boyfriends who aren't, who love them and whom they love as much as they love each other, just in a different way. It's actually not too far from another apartment Nino's spent a night in before, where he had "the worst one-night stand ever". It takes Aiba a moment to realize Nino has someone specific in mind, but then he lunges across the arm of the loveseat, trying to grab at Nino as he continues to taunt Aiba from the safety of Sho's side. Ohno tries to calm Aiba down by telling him he was lucky to be Floated by Nino, and Jun offers Ohno a bitter apology that he doesn't have weird psychic sex abilities like his Kazu does.

Nino misses being in Jun's dreams, sometimes, misses exploring Jun's mind and falling more and more in love with him every step of the way. He misses seeing the landscapes Jun's read about, meeting the people Jun's met, feeling the emotions Jun goes through whether he wants to or not.

He doesn't miss waking up in Jun's arms, though, because that still happens. It'll always be his favorite, and he likes to think Jun knows it.


End file.
